Rihanna - Talk That Talk Review
A year after her hit album Loud, and her infamous appearance on The X Factor, Rihanna is back with a new album.
rating: 3.0
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A year after her hit album Loud, and her infamous appearance on The X Factor, Rihanna is back. Not that she really went away, because Rihanna seems to be one of the hardest working women in pop music, with an almost constant touring schedule and three albums in three years. Personally Ive always really liked Rihanna. Her blend of dance, pop, hip hop and the odd bit of ska and reggae has always made her sound radically different from the rest of the music that takes up the rest of the pop charts. Rihannas new album, Talk That Talk kicks off with You Da One, a song already confirmed to be the albums second single. "Yes I'm kinda crazy, that's what happens baby sings Rihanna, on a catchy song that is a solid piece of classic Rihanna. You Da One sounds like it is going to go somewhere, before ending suddenly. Its a good track but it makes you wonder why they ended it just before it was going to go somewhere and why they ended it so quickly. The second track on Talk That Talk is Where Have You Been which features a trance backbeat and a dancey almost dubstep breakdown in the middle. Listening to it, you just know is going to be a massive hit single, being pumped from every club and bar this side of Ibiza. Its a good dance record but once Ive heard it I feel like Ive heard it a million times before and it feels like it has been overplayed already. The Third track on the album is easily the best on the album, the Calvin Harris produced We Found Love. This has a lot in common with Where Have You Been, especially with the trance beat and dubstep breakdowns but on We Found Love the balance is exactly right. This may be due to the presence of Calvin Harris or it may be simply due to it being a damn good track. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tg00YEETFzg&ob=av2e Talk That Talk is the next track on the album, featuring Jay Z. His parts on the track feel samey and boring but when Rihanna actually sings the song really comes to life. Again, considering the song was written by Jay Z it seems to be the tracks where she collaborates where she becomes genuinely great. Cockiness features a hip hop beat with some repeated and sampled vocals, but they are far from the most interesting part of the track; the lyrics, featuring such subtle lines as I Want You To Be My Sex Slave and Suck My Cockiness, Lick My Persuasion. These borderline pornographic lines arent so much offensive or rude but really tacky. I get that Rihanna is a massive sex symbol and has a reputation to live up to, and I loved her performance on last years X Factor finale as much as any dirty old man or twelve year old boy but this is almost as cringe worthy as 50 Cents ode to romance Candy Shop. The next track, Birthday Cake is no better. The next track that doesnt make me feel like a 70s lap dancer is We All Want Love, a surprisingly modest and introspective ballad that reminds you that Rihanna is human and not some form of sex robot. Im not normally a fan of her slower tracks but this is really good. Maybe its because it is such a contrast to the last two tracks.